Man pleads not guilty in shooting

Published 7:15 pm Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A Troy man charged with an April 2008 shooting is set to go to trial in August after pleading not guilty in Pike County Circuit Court Tuesday.

Eddie Mack Kelley will face an August jury on charges of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle and assault first degree for an incident alleged in April 2008, said Assistant District Attorney Tom Anderson.

Kelley, who has already been convicted of murder, is said to have shot Doris Lanae Hawthorne, of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., during a gunfire exchange with another subject near Ingram’s Curb Market in Troy.

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Hawthorne was caught in the crossfire between the suspects, one of whom Anderson said was a relative of Joey Spikner, whom Kelley was convicted of murdering in May 2007.

Kelley was convicted of the crime by a Pike County Circuit Court Jury in October 2009 and was sentenced soon after to 30 years in prison.

Kelley was convicted after Michael Streeter was found guilty of the same crime and sentenced to life without parole.

Anderson said Kelley’s case is likely to be first on the trial term set to begin Aug. 18.

Nathan Joe Copes Jr., charged with trafficking cocaine, possession of marijuana first degree and receiving stolen property third degree, is also set to face trial.

Also in court Tuesday, two men pleaded guilty to unrelated charges of robbery first degree.

Rosinek Woods pleaded to robbery of a local Beeline gas station and Levarius Wheeler pleaded to robbing the Banks Buyrite. They are both being held in the Pike County Jail without bond pending sentencing.